Despite their functional usage these fans turn out to be real works of art, clearly very cleverly designed/constructed and using a nice lot of copper at the core. Below is a picture of one of them that instantly set mind mind racing for possible applications (I’ve put a penny in the foreground for scale). . .

Original cooling fan

The first concept evolved into a steampunk-style desk fan, conceived as a companion to ‘The Optimus’. This new creation came together amazingly quickly, with many of the pieces seeming to fit/look ‘right’ together almost naturally. Here’s the front view, taken for scale alongside the same telephone prop as used for The Optimus shot:

Steampunk Desk Fan

Construction centered around lots of copper pipe, some of the beautiful newly designed UK one penny coins as end caps/general decorations, and lots of random brass/copper bits and pieces here and there. Mix all these with a judicious smattering of clock parts, an old lamp base, plumbing elements, brass candle stick bits, a spring and some simple wiring to a 12 volt supply, and, voilà!

Here’s a back view – did I mention it swivels from side to side, as well as forwards and backwars to direct the air where required?